Bitcoin Hits $1 Billion: The total worth of the virtual currency has reached a new high. Economists are mystif...

Bitcoin , the world’s first open-source cryptographic currency , which has been on a tear since the beginning of this year, set a new record on 28 March, when the price listed on the largest online exchange rose past US $95. With nearly 11 million bitcoins in circulation, this sets the total worth of the currency at just over $1 billion. For a bit of perspective, that’s how much Facebook spent on its acquisition of Instagram last April. But Bitcoin is not a company. It’s a digital currency that runs on a global peer-to-peer network without the backing of a nation or any other central authority. The recent ascent has traditional economists scratching their heads. “It’s something of a mystery that Bitcoin has a positive value at all, since it wasn’t launched in the way a new currency is typically launched,” says Lawrence White , an economist who teaches the history of bankin...